Trey's link

Check the new link to Trey's CaringBridge site, just click over on his name under links. There are new pictures from his birthday party...very cute!!

I liked this quote from my calendar on my desk yesterday...

"Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together." Vesta M. Kelly

Discipline

I think the hardest part about being a parent is disciplining. My boys are such good boys. Sometimes though as all children do they need to be disciplined. Last night John needed a strong hand of discipline. It was hard for me...as we've all heard from a parent harder on me than you. But, really it was. I thought about how hard it must be for the Lord to discipline us as his children. This verse stood out to me "My son do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TREY!

Trey turned 1 year old on Saturday! Isn't that just so hard to believe?! He's such a sweet little boy. I am so blessed to have him in my life. Looking back over his first year it just reminds me all there is to be thankful for and how blessed we really are. I couldn't love him anymore than if he were my own son. Check out his CaringBridge site.


Congratulations to Candice who is now engaged!! I wish you all the happiness in the world girl you deserve it!! God is so good.

See my post below on SugarLand - saw them in concert last night in Clemson. It was awesome!! Jennifer Nettles is so adorable. Not sure where she gets all that energy. Hope they tour again soon!

Sugarland

Have you heard Sugarland's new CD? Well, you should either download it or buy it. I'm still in the buying CD world. Maybe after Christmas I will buy the Ipod I've been wanting and get in to the downloading world. Sugarland is awesome and the new CD rocks. Jennifer Nettles is really good. I like all the songs but some favorits are:
"Want To"
"Happy Ending"
"These Are the Days"
"Everyday America"
"Mean Girls"

Check it out. When you go to he website you'll hear a couple of the songs.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHON!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHON!! I hope you have had a good day. I love you very much. I won't put your age I'll just say that you have now celebrated more birthdays with me than you ever celebrated without me. ;) You're so very important to me and I love you with all my heart.

Candice did an absolutely AWESOME job on our pictures!! Go here to her blog to check them out. Thanks again Candice!!

Voting

I am behind in posting I realize...no Halloween pictures yet. I need to get to that very soon. They have 'fixed' our computers at work so that we can't download any pictures from our computers. This is due to students placing inappropriate pictures on Facebook and MySpace so....I find it harder to find the time at home to post pictures.

Stay tuned for family pictures...Candice came down this weekend and took our pictures in Falls Park in Greenville. I'm sure they are going to be awesome. She took about 400 shots - some posed some candid. I can't wait to see them. I'll be using some of them for Christmas cards...

I voted today. I always feel like I'm choosing between the lesser of 2 evils. My sister and I had a pretty heated discussion about it last night. I'm a little more liberal and she's a little more conservative. The cool thing is thought that we can share our opinions and still love and respect one another. That's a credit to our parents and the home we were raised in! I just don't like to let moral issues cloud my judgment when it comes to politicians. I like to keep church and state separate. We'll see how it turns out I guess. It was cool how the touch screens worked and how they had an explanation for all the amendments. It was a very easy, fast process. I was the 86th voter at my precinct and the older lady who checked me in was very excited with the turn out. She made me smile =).

Look for a Happy Birthday shout out tomorrow to someone very special!!

Pictures...

Here are the pictures. First we have John's whole class and then we have my little Ladies man. These were the 2 little girls in his group. Of course any opportunity to be in a picture with the girls...... =)!

Promises, memories, etc...

I know I promised field trip pictures and I will post them when I get home this afternoon. We had camera issues and then I just got lazy!!! Sorry for the delay in keeping my promise.

11 years ago today Shon proposed to me. He took me up off of Hwy 11 on a picnic and with the trees all beautiful in their fall colors he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. He made me very happy that day and continues to do so each day. It really doesn't seem like 11 years ago, it seems like only yesterday.

It's a busy week at work with Homecoming this weekend. Many, many activities are going to be taking place.

WAY TO GO TIGERS!!

Fall break and field trips

I went with John on his first field trip yesterday. I promise I will post a picture later. I don't have the camera with me at work today. It was a really fun trip. We went to a little farm in Pelzer. The bus ride there was quite the adventure (loud!). We went on a hay ride, though the corn maze, bat cave and alligator aly. We saw chickens, a goat and donkey, turkeys and a huge pig. We got to pick out a pumpkin each and had a picnic lunch. It was a beautiful day. I enjoyed getting to put faces with all the names I hear about. I got to meet Alyssa Dear and I got to see that my John is quite the ladies man. He got a big hug from a beautiful little girl Alexis (he hugged back, too!). Anytime, the little girl's moms were taking pictures he gladly joined in for the picture. It was a great day. He fell asleep on the bus ride back. I still can't believe he's so grown up. One thing is for sure though I couldn't be a teacher and I have the highest respect for those of you who are (ASHLEY!). I look forward to many more field trips with my boys though! It sure doesn't take much to impress 5 years olds. Although there was debate over which was better recess or the farm, I think the votes were tied at 50/50.

It's fall break here at SWU this week and the quiet has been so nice. It comes so fast after we start back and is so appreciated once it gets here. I love Fall it's my favorite time of year. The leaves are changing, there is a crispness in the air and of course there is FOOTBALL! Wow - those Tigers really pulled out a close one this weekend...I missed it though..went to a wedding and when I went in it was 17-3 and when I came back out to the van before the reception they had come back to win. Had to rely on the highlights on the news. Anyway...I'm looking forward to tomorrow and Friday off. It's supposed to be nice weather although a little cooler which I'm looking forward to. I like the first hint of sweater weather.

Alex is great too by the way...his new words are down and gone gone. Of course he's usually referring to food when he says gone gone. And down is always when you pick him up and he is not ready to stop doing whatever it was he was doing. He likes telling the kitties 'no no' and in the mornings telling John to come on when he's ready to go. His version is 'dohn, mon'. Too cute I must say.

Pictures to come...promise.

My inspiration...

Happy anniversary to me and Shon! 9 years of marriage and 16 years together! It's been a wonderful adventure. Shon, you are my inspiration, my very best friend. I appreciate you and all you do for me. Thank you for everything. I look forward to many, many more memories. Love ya!

Congratulations!

My parents celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary Monday. WOW! That is a really long time. I just wanted to let them know how very honored I am to have them as my parents and how much of an impact their wonderful example of marriage has made on my life. They've never pretended that it's easy and I now know that it's not always easy - there are good days and bad, but they have remained faithful to each other and to the Lord for all these years and provided both me and Ashley with far more than we ever deserved, no matter what they had to sacrifice for themselves. I thank the Lord for them and for the love they have for one another. I know he has great things in store for both of you with many more wonderful years of marriage to come. I love you both very much!!

My Little Bookworm

Alex loves to read. He got that from me. Shon is not a reader, except for his car magazines. He's such a sweet little boy. I love this age because his personality is developing so much. His new words this week were 'hot', 'pop tart' and 'up'. He's also now saying all the time 'want dis' and we play a game in the car he says 'Mama' and I say back 'Alex' about 20 times on the way to daycare. It's so much fun watching him discover all the new things he can do.

Have a great weekend! Go TIGERS!!! =)

Sweet Dreams

I love this picture! John loves school but he comes home pretty tired and bedtime is no problem, pretty much as soon as his head hits the pillow he is out. He's starting to tell us more stories about school now. Little things here and there. There is a little girl in his class that sits with him at his table. Her name is Alyssa Dear. Anytime he tells us a story about her he uses both her first and last name, it's so cute...he'll say "Alyssa Dear did this, or Alyssa Dear did that." I don't know if they have 2 Alyssa's or if he just likes using her whole name or what but it's really funny to hear him talk about her. I just can't believe how fast he's growing up!!

September 11, 2001

My calendar for today (it was printed in 1994) says this...

"Do every act of your life as if it were your last." Marcus Aurelius

I think that is fitting as we remember this day.

I love you...

In Chapel on Tuesday the message was about saying I love you but not really meaning what God intended those words to mean. When we tell someone we love them we should be willing to die to ourselves and die for them. That really hit home with me. There are only a few people that we would really be willing to die for in our lives. I mean if we are really honest but there are lots of people that we say I love you to. Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to die for us - he proved it on the cross. Something to think about...

Where did the week go?!

Man this past week flew by! I never got a chance to post. Work is busy right now with the students back. Just trying to get organized and things set up is time consuming. Here are a couple of pictures from Bristol. We had an awesome time. It was great. The first picture is during the race and the 2nd is of the pre-race tribute to the USA. It was really cool. Definitely one I will want to go back to as often as possible!
Things are going well at work so far. There is a different spirit on our campus this year. You can feel it strongly. Especially in our Chapel services so far. I pray that it continues - we need it.
The boys are doing great! John has adjusted well to kindergarten. He still comes home pretty tired! Otherwise he seems to love it. Alex new words today were 'John stop' but he says it like this "Dohn, top" while pointing his finger at John during the stop part, it's just hilarious to watch them play together now. Alex loves for John to chase him around the house. And for John to let him 'chase' him around the house.
We saw Trey today, too. He's getting so big! He's crawling all over the place. Soon to be a year old...man that is unbelievable.
Promise to post more often this week!

Bristol Motor Speedway here we come...

Big shout out goes to my husband's best friend Jason Few...he called today with 2 FREE, yes FREE tix to the Bristol night race. Now, you see Jason could not go, so that means that I get to go. (Otherwise, like last year it'd be Shon and Jason going). I've always wanted to go to this race, being the Nascar fan that I am (yes, Lisa, I really am...). So, we are going to Bristol, YIPEE. I'm so excited. I will take pictures and post them for all to see.

Updates...

Well, so far so good with kindergarten. John told me Sunday as we were getting his clothes ready for the week "I really like this kindergarten thing." He had to wear a certain color every day this week. He loved that of course. Today was blue day. I'm wearing blue, too. I don't think he noticed though. The only thing he doesn't like is homework...boy does he have a lot of fun times ahead. He's only had to practice writing his name a few times and collect a few things to take in. Otherwise he's doing great.

Alex is good. I don't remember if I posted that we got 2 new kittens or not. Lil Munchkin and Ranger. Alex absolutely loves to watch them play together. That is his favorite thing to do. He'll stand at the door and just watch them. He constantly has to go to the door to check on the kitties. I'll try to post pictures soon.

The students are back at SWU. So far so good. I enjoy seeing the freshman come to school. Although, this year I've realized they just don't look old enough to be here. I think that means I'm getting old.

I have a prayer request, a former student I spent a lot of time with last semester Roscoe is facing surgery in a couple of weeks he needs your prayers. Thanks....

And so it begins...

Well, today was John's first day of kindergarten. It was a good morning. He was a little more quiet than usual but he seemed very excited and such a big boy. I still can't believe he is 5, it seems like only yesterday when they handed me that little blue eyed, blond headed bundle of joy. I didn't cry this morning - because I had already cried a few times yesterday and the day before. He gave me and his Daddy a big hug when we left him. The school did a big thing for parents this morning so we got to visit his classroom for awhile, meet with the principal and then there was a big pep rally before we left. It was nice. I know this is the beginning of many first steps in our journey together...
My good friend Debbie sent me a card in the mail with a poem inside yesterday. I thought I would share it with all of you. It of course made me cry but it's so perfect.

WHOSE CHILD IS THIS?
Author Unknown

"Whose child is this?" I asked one day
Seeing a little one at play
"Mine", said the parent with a tender smile
"Mine to keep a little while
To bathe his hands and comb his hair
To tell him what he is to wear
To prepare him that he may always be good
And each day do the things he should"

"Whose child is this?" I asked again
As the door opened and someone came in
"Mine", said the teacher with the same tender smile
"Mine, to keep just for a little while
To teach him how to be gentle and kind
To train and direct his dear little mind
To help him live by every rule
And get the best he can from school"

"Whose child is this?" I ask once more
Just as the little one entered the door
"Ours" said the parent and the teacher as they smiled
And each took the hand of the little child
"Ours to love and train together
Ours this blessed task forever."

Best Buddies

This is John and his best buddy Little John. We had Little John over to spend the night a couple of weekends ago for a last get together before school started. The 2 of them have stayed at the same daycare since they were about 6 months old. Because my John is about 3 months older they are Big John and Little John. It is has been such a joy to watch them grow up together. They won't be going to the same school but I hope they can stay friends.

Tomorrow is the big day!! John is excited. I'll admit I'm a little sad. I'll share my thoughts tomorrow.